BeefStocker USA has created a spreadsheet to estimate the cost of the RFID tagging component of compliance with NAIS.

But as NoNAIS points out,

According to a new report, by 2015 over 900 billion food items will be tagged with RFID technology. One blurb:

Billion dollar businesses will be created as a consequence - much the same as happened with barcodes years ago.

This report, brought to you by the supply chain management illuminati over at "Research and Markets", costs only $1800, and is available here.

A new book was released December 16 ($150!!) by Larry Busch and Jim Bingen of the IFAS, who work closely with the authors of the article reviewed by kev about supermarkets. Here's a link to it on the publisher's website.. And the full citation: Bingen, J. and L. Busch, eds.. 2005. Agricultural Standards: The Shape Of The Global Food And Fiber System. Dordrecht: Springer.

Here's the table of contents (sorry for the formatting or lack thereof):

DEDICATION. CONTRIBUTORS. PREFACE. PART I - THINKING ABOUT STANDARDS. 1. INTRODUCTION: A NEW WORLD OF STANDARDS; L. BUSCH, J.BINGEN. PART II - PUBLIC AND INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS. 2. THE WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION; K.C. KENNEDY. 3. CIRCULATIONS OF INSECURITY: GLOBALIZING FOOD: STANDARDS IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE; S. ILCAN, L. PHILLIPS. 4. THE INTERNATIONAL OFFICE OF VINE AND WINE (01V) AND THE WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION (WTO): STANDARDIZATION ISSUES IN THE WINE SECTOR; H. HANNIN et al. PART Ill - REGULATORY PROCESSES. 5. NEGOTIATING STANDARDS FOR ANIMAL PRODUCTS: A PROCEDURAL APPROACH APPLIED TO RAW MILK: B. SYLVANDER, 0. BIENCOURT. 6. THE INDIVISIBILITY OF SCIENCE, POLICY AND ETHICS: STARLINKTM CORN AND THE MAKING OF STANDARDS; M.P. SALAZAR et al. 7. STANDARDS AND STATE-BUILDING: THE CONSTRUCTION OF SOYBEAN STANDARDS IN BRAZIL; I. SERGIO FREIRE DE SOUSA, L. BUSCH. 8. PARADOXES OF INNOVATION: STANDARDS AND TECHNICAL CHANGE IN THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE US SOYBEAN INDUSTRY: L. BUSCH et al. PART IV - ACCESS AND ETHICAL TRADE. 9. DEFINING A GOOD STEAK: GLOBAL CONSTRUCTIONS OF WHAT IS CONSIDERED THE BEST RED MEAT; E.RANSOM. 10. IMPROVING THE ACCESS OF SMALL FARMERS IN AFRICA TO GLOBAL MARKETS THROUGH THE DEVELOPMENT OF QUALITY STANDARDS FOR PIGEONPEAS; R. JONES et al. 11. CHINA AND GLOBAL ORGANIC FOOD STANDARDS: SOVEREIGNTY BARGAINS AND DOMESTIC POLITICS; P. THIERS. 12. COTTON IN WEST AFRICA: A QUESTION OF QUALITY; J. BINGEN. PART V - CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE AGENDA. 13. SHAPING A POLICY AND RESEARCH AGENDA; 1. BINGEN, L. BUSCH. INDEX.

There's a new report by Devlin Kuyek and GRAIN about the bird flu crisis. For all you executives, here's the Executive Summary:

Backyard or free-range poultry are not fuelling the current wave of bird flu outbreaks stalking large parts of the world. The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu is essentially a problem of industrial poultry practices. Its epicentre is the factory farms of China and Southeast Asia and -- while wild birds can carry the disease, at least for short distances -- its main vector is the highly self-regulated transnational poultry industry, which sends the products and waste of its farms around the world through a multitude of channels. Yet small poultry farmers and the poultry biodiversity and local food security that they sustain are suffering badly from the fall-out. To make matters worse, governments and international agencies, following mistaken assumptions about how the disease spreads and amplifies, are pursuing measures to force poultry indoors and further industrialise the poultry sector. In practice, this means the end of the small-scale poultry farming that provides food and livelihoods to hundreds of millions of families across the world. This paper presents a fresh perspective on the bird flu story that challenges current assumptions and puts the focus back where it should be: on the transnational poultry industry.